. >>> up first, president obama standing his ground over the fight in the fiscal cliff. americans face crushing tax hikes and severe spending cuts in 27 days if democrats and republicans cannot come together on a deal. by the way, congress breaks for the holidays in ten days. slash that number. in an interview with bloomberg news, the president made it crystal clear he's not about to blink on the issue of tax hikes for the wealthiest americans. >> we'll have to see the rates on the top 2% go up. and we're not going to be able to get a deal without it. >> white house correspondent dan lothian joins us live from washington this morning. very nice to see you, dan. >> good to see you. >> here's the deal. we have republicans pitted against democrats. now we understand there are issues amongst republicans as well. >> that's right. they're in a tough spot here. they don't want to be in left in a position of being blamed for the fiscal cliff. you're seeing a division between house members and senate members. the reason for this is mainly over the 800 billion in new tax revenue.